Weight is another important factor especially when deciding on a camera that you want to carry with you all day.
Olympus E-PM1 is 11g lighter than the Sony NEX-5T but we don't think this will make a significant difference.

Also keep in mind that body weight is not the only deciding factor when comparing two interchangeable camera bodies, you have to also take into account the lenses that you will be using with these bodies. Since Sony NEX-5T has an APS-C sized sensor and Olympus E-PM1 has a smaller Four Thirds sensor, Olympus E-PM1's lenses for a similar focal length and aperture will generally be lighter and smaller than the Sony NEX-5T lenses.

As seen above, Sony NEX-5T has a 1.6x Larger sensor area than Olympus E-PM1. Larger sensors give photographer more control on the depth of field and blurry background compared to smaller sensor when shot in same focal length and aperture.

What types of Photography are Olympus E-PM1 and Sony NEX-5T Good for?

In this section, we rank and compare Olympus E-PM1 and Sony NEX-5T for five different photography types in order to make your decision process easier in case you are specifically interested in one or more of these areas.

Number of available lenses is a big decision factor while choosing your interchangeable lens camera. When we look at the available lenses for these two cameras, we see that Olympus E-PM1 has an advantage over Sony NEX-5T. There are 90 lenses for Olympus E-PM1's Micro Four Thirds mount, on the other hand there are only 73 lenses for Sony NEX-5T's Sony E lens mount.

Another important factor is the availability of image stabilization. Olympus E-PM1 has a big advantage in this regard because it has a sensor based image stabilization which means that all the lenses mounted to this body will be stabilized. On the other hand, Sony NEX-5T doesn't have this feature so you have to buy a lens with optical stabilization feature. Currently there are 23 lenses for Sony E mount with Optical Image Stabilization features.

You may have already made your decision about which camera suits better for your needs and your budget so far but in case you wonder how we rated Olympus E-PM1 and Sony NEX-5T, below you can find their scores in five different aspects.
Our Decision Algorithm dynamically scores cameras using 63 different specs, current price and DxO Mark scores (where possible) in order to make a more objective and consistent comparison.

Here is a summary of how Olympus E-PM1 and Sony NEX-5T scores compare:

Olympus E-PM1

Imaging

Features

Value

Portability

Overall

Ranked #70 out of 114 in Rangefinder-style mirrorless camerasRanked #288 out of 1131 in all Cameras

Sony NEX-5T

Imaging

Features

Value

Portability

Overall

Ranked #33 out of 114 in Rangefinder-style mirrorless camerasRanked #182 out of 1131 in all Cameras

Sony NEX-5T is the overall winner of this comparison. It has a higher Overall Score and beats Olympus E-PM1 in all criterias except one: Portability.If small size and light body is a big priority for you, choose Olympus E-PM1. Otherwise, Sony NEX-5T is the better camera overall.